Heddle frame return motion device for broad weaving looms



y 1950 J. PICANOL 2,943,645

HEDDLE FRAME RETURN MOTION DEVICE FOR BROAD wmvms LOOMS Filed Nov. 1, 1956 3 Shuts-Shoat 1 m mumn gw A I'TORNEY! J. PICANOL July 5, 1960 HEDDLE FRAME RETURN MOTION DEVICE FOR BROAD WEAVING LOOKS Filed Nov. 1. 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 PLccm'ol, man/r01? PM n July 1960 .1. PICANOL 2,943,645

HEDDLE FRAME RETURN MOTION DEVICE FOR BROAD WEAVING LOOMS Filed Nov. 1, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 PLccLnol m/z/vrm new? y g 4 TI'MI EYI United States Patent Ofiice 2,943,645 imnDLE'FRAME'RE'rURNMonoN DEVICE FOR I BROAD WEAVING LooMs Jaime PicanoLCasa PairafCatalunymv Zilleheke-lez-Ypres', Belgium Filed Nev}; 1,; 19st, sen-Nd: 619,723 7 Claims priority, application Belgium Dec. 1 7-,-19 '5- 1; Claim! omen-s9 7 other upper. corner,;-and-'bel-tsconnecting said upper corners..with said return motion mechanism. This arrangemerit is 11sed"i1r'cooperation*with'one single drivingelement per frame acting upon thelower edge of said frame.

If broad looms are concerned, i.e. looms with a width 7 of one and one half meters or more, such anarrangement is no'longer acceptable as it is clearly incapable of ensuring with certainty the required parallellism of the frames during their reciprocating vertical movement.

Such parallellism, however, is indispensable for the correct operation of theloom. V

Consequently, for broad looms it is usual to provide two distinct driving elements symmetrically disposed with respect to the vertical axis of the loom, with a view to avoiding deformation of the frame due to too great a distance between the point of application of the driving forces and the points on which the counterforces act,

' i.e. where the return motion device is attached. The use of such a dual driving mechanism provides a better distribution of the counterforces from the return motion device.

An object of the present invention is to provide exceedingly simple means for obtaining a more favourable distribution of forces and consequently achieving perfect balance of each single frame, so that the frames are displaced normally while remaining parallel to themselves. With this purpose in view, according to the invention each of the heddle frames. is suspended at its upper corners from two resilient return motion devices, said devices preferably being of the kind comprising a spirally wound spring as well as a mechanism associated with said spring for adjusting the spring tension, or for releasing the spring in case the frame is to be replaced. This novel arrangement permits one to obtain remarkably well balanced heddle frames and in these conditions broad and even very broad looms can operate with the same reliability as looms or ordinary size.

The individual resilient return motion devices provided for each upper corner of each of the heddle frames may be executed single or in double. The choice between these possibilities will depend on the number of frames and on the space available. In fact, the return forces are determined by the tension of the spiral spring as'it is'rtensidnied y'the action of the-pull exerted bythe driving mechanism. In order to be able to store suffi cient energy for'ensuring with certainty the return motion of the frames, said' springs should have duly "determined dimensions; The space occupied by th'e'return motion devices depends on the width and the thickness of the' vice'of the invention will be further. brought out hereinafter'by thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l'is a'schematic sid'e elevation view'of the essential elements of a weaving looni infsufficient detailto" show the position. of the heddle frame return motion;

' device according to the invention;

Figure"2 shows schematically and very succinctly, an application of the invention" with single spring devices;

Figure 3 shows schematically and very succinctly, an applicationwith dual spring devices;

Figure 4 shows'schematically the operatingarrangemer t for'asin'gle 'spri'ngldevice;

Figure SshoWsf:schematically the operating arrange: rrjie'ntforadouble spring device;

Figure6 is"a front view of an embodiment of aspiral' spring device which may be used for both directions of rotation.

As shown schematically in Figure 2, in broad weavers looms, the heddle frame 1 is acted upon, at two points 2-3 at its lower edge, by two mechanisms including cams 4 and 5 moving in synchronism. Said mechanisms act upon the lower edge of the frame 1, which at its upper edge is suspended from two identical return motion devices 6-7. These devices are preferably of the kind specified in applicants Belgian Patent No. 502,849. However by reason of the novel features introduced by the present invention, this device must be adapted to be used in the left as well as in the right sense of rotation. A device comprising this feature is shown in Figure 6; it substantially comprises a hollow drum 8 rotatably mounted on a central shaft 9, said drum having a notch 10 formed at the inside of its cylinder wall, a hub 12 secured on said central shaft 9, said hub having a notch formed in its cylindrical outer face, and a spiral spring 13 mounted in the annular space between said hub and said cylinder Wall of said drum, between the notch 11 in said outer face of said hub, and the notch 10 formed in said cylinder wall of said drum. On the same central shaft 9 a helicoidal gear 14 is secured which meshes with a worm 15 having a shaft 16 formed with a square end '17. Said hollow drum is closed by a cover (not shown).

In order to adapt said device either for pulling to the left or to the right, two notches such as 10 are provided at the inside of the cylinder wall of said drum in positions symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis AB. In addition said cylindrical wall has three openings such as 18 spaced at equal distances, i.e. at angles of along its periphery, adapted to receive the hooked extremity of the traction element 19 from which is suspended the heddle frame 1. In the case represented said traction element is constituted by a chain terminating in a hook 20 which is engaged in the upper slot 18. Due to this characteristic arrangement the spiral spring 13 may either be wound in the right or in the left direction, while the connecting element 19 may correspond- Patented July 5, .1 960 ingly be hooked in so as to be trained over the right side or the left side of the hollow drum 8.

In another embodiment such as shown in schematic form in Figure 3, for ensuring the return motion of each of 'the heddle frames, use may be made of two pairs of duplicate resilient devices, wherebyeach pair of resilient devices is controlled, i.e. tensioned, released and regulated, by means of a common control mechanism. For this purpose it suflices, as shown schematically in Figure 5, to mount two hollow drums such as 8 one above the other, said drums each having a shaft such as 9 whereon is secured a gear, 21 and 22 respectively, both said gears meshing with a common pinion 23. On the shaft 24 of said pinion is secured a helicoidal gear 25 meshing with a worm 15 having a shaft 16 formed with a square end 17 adapted to mount a crank 26. Consequently, both said resilient devices thus forming'a twin arrangement are subject, in identically the same way, to the control which may be exerted by means of one and the same crank, said resilient devices each having a traction element such as 19, both said traction elements being attached at or near the same end of the upper cross bar of the heddle frame.

As shown schematically in Figure 4,.for simple resilient devices the helicoidal gear 14 may be made with a diameter greater than the outer diameter of the hollow drum 8, said helicoidal gear meshing, in the same way as described before, with the worm 15, said worm being mounted on the shaft 16 formed with a square end 17,

on which may be mounted the crank 26.

Many other combinations may readily be realised. 'E.g., a great number of such resilient devices, each having a spring of greater width and strength, may be arranged in superposing tiers or in any other suitable way, with a view to using'a correspondingly great number of heddle frames.

What I claim is:

Resilient means for the return motion of heddle frames of looms, said means comprising at least one separate resilient return motion device upon each side of a heddle frame, each device comprising a hollow drum located substantially above and connected with an upper corner of the heddle frame, a central shaft rotatably supporting said drum, a spiral spring having outer and inner ends and disposed betweensaid shaft and said drum, a hub secured to said shaft and having a notch for receiving the inner end of said spiral spring, said notch being so shaped as to hold the inner end of said spiral spring when said spiral spring is wound in either direction around the hub, said drum having two interior notches, one of said drum notches receiving said outer spring end when the spring is wound in one direction and the other one of said drum notches receiving said outer spring end when the spring is wound in the other direction, a driven element operatively' connected with said shaft, a driving element meshing with said driven element, and manual driving means operatively connected with said driving element and extending beyond said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

